Neil Gaiman has just confirmed on his AMA Reddit with Amanda Palmer that while his book American Gods is still in development as a TV show, it is no longer with HBO. This is sure to lead to fervent speculation about what network will eventually pick it up! What do you think? Should it be AMC now that they’re down Breaking Bad? Netflix? Let the debate begin!
Seems BBC America might be a logical spot with the genre/original programming the network has been doing. Also, the network is both British and American, much like the author.
FX Networks since they’re willing to do interesting things (Justified, The Americans, The Bridge, American Horror Story, Louie, Wilfred, Archer, etc.), and they have a pretty hands-off approach to their shows’ creative teams. They’ve never done genre like this (the closest might be AHS), but I think they can make it work.
It’s essentially a limited season show, unless you expand way beyond the book, and either do filler (i.e. Under the Dome) or do what happens after…
As a limited season, I think AMC would be great, then I could watch it. Or, since the BBC does this all the time, maybe a joint production. (But, would the BBC finance “american” gods?
As a longer committment, I would be very worried. AMC has a mixed track record, and Fx is just Fox with a fancy tie.
The original plan was to do what happens after, concurrently with Neil writing the books happening after.
I don’t think this is right for any network that has any language restrictions at all. So it’s basically down to Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, and the BBC, right?
concurrently with Neil writing the books happening after.
Really? Neil is a bigger procrastinator than GRRM, and he had a 4 book head start.
I could see Netflix grabbing this up. They need more shows, have the cash, and it comes with a fan base. They also have no language or content restrictions which you can’t get with FX or AMC.
Geez, you scared me for a moment there.
@@@@@#5 Exactly. Neil Gaiman’s last book, while very interesting, was basically pamphlet sized – AND IT TOOK HIM FOUR YEARS TO WRITE. And 2008’s The Graveyard Book was basically just as small.
Amazon.com probably will air and produce the show.
Neil Gaiman is not your b*tch.
Gaiman’s last book didn’t take four years to write, it took him just a few weeks or a few months, he was just doing other stuff inbetween.
@8, @10: And on top of that that it was a difficult book for him to write, by all accounts. Didn’t he start writing it because Amanda was away for months at a time and he had no one to talk to? There’s less fiction in there than you find typical for a Neil Gaiman novel.
As for the time involved, “novelist” is only one of Neil’s hats. He’s involved in a bunch of projects these days; if he isn’t focusing on any one of them, he just might not have the time or energy to do them justice. That doesn’t mean he’s making excuses to put them off.
@9: Yes, he is.
@10: Yes, it did
@11: Considering the product of his efforts is a pamphlet-length book that is still priced at the same level as one of George RR Martin’s awesome volumes of a Song of Ice and Fire, his fans really didn’t get their money’s worth, did they. IF Gaiman and his Publisher had priced it at a more reasonable $11, then I wouldn’t have been pissed off. But both Gaiman and his Publisher chose to gouge his fans.
I couldn’t believe when Gaiman’s fans defended this. They don’t even understand that it will only encourage more of this kind of gouging.
At what point would these “people” start to be perturbed? 100 pages for $27? Or maybe 50 pages for $20?
This ratio of cost to story length DOES matter.
@vjj: Your tone is getting a tad inflammatory. If you disagree with other commenters, or have a problem with the work of a particular author or with his/her fans, please keep our Moderation Policy in mind and keep the conversation civil (in this thread, and on the rest of the site).
@vjj – In addition to “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”, in the past 4 years he has written 4 children’s books, a couple of “Dr. Who” episodes, co-written “The Silver Dream” with Michael Reaves, co-edited a selection of short stories, adapted one of his own short stories, “Snow, Glass, Apples” for the stage, been on several extensive book signing tours, and probably a lot more. But, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good philippic.